I Hate Tuesdays

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Boomtown Rats song "I Don't Like Mondays". It's been running through my head all morning but I've been substituting Mondays with Tuesdays. I may have mentioned this before but Tuesdays are trash day @ our house. Normally that is a good thing. Purging crap from your house feels good. And if you recycle you feel extra good because you are helping the Earth because you've sorted and rinsed your crap. However, Tuesdays @ Tiny House mean 3 garbage trucks (1 regular crap truck, 1 yard crap truck & then 1 recycled crap truck) and that is 3 instances of absolute barking hell! The trash trucks pull right up to our back fence, they are big & loud & they set the dogs off like nobodies business. If you can imagine all the hate, frustration & anger you have ever felt & channel it through the body of a 20lb dog you would know exactly how Courage feels about these trucks. What's a dog to do? He has managed, over time, to take his frustration of not being able to get to the truck out on our fence. I'm pretty sure he's gnawed 1/2 way through the poles. I've walked outside to find him hanging by his teeth from them. Rocco isn't as angry. He may be used to the sounds of the trucks from his days as a little dump dog in Puerto Rico. He does like to instigate the anger in Courage though, and often gives him the "trash truck warning bark". I'm sure you can imagine how much we all appreciate that. Especially when the 1st truck arrives before 8am.

We've consulted a dog trainer about this. The easiest thing she suggested was to keep them in the house when the trucks go by. We agreed that would be the easiest thing and the bonus for me is that the garbage men wouldn't have to see me in my jammies & bedhead while chasing the dogs around the gazebo. Our fence has stopped taking such a beating but these boys have great hearing & they are @ the back door a block before the truck even gets to our house. Of course Rocco is leading the charge. We've been dealing with this & I have been trying to work on "quiet" with them but as the pregnancy has progressed it's become a little harder. As it is I have a little head wedged in my pelvis so getting up, down & general walking isn't as easy but the nursery window also faces the back fence & Courage knows this. Even though I have kept the blind down and the window closed he will still force his way into the bedroom (we should really get this door fixed to close tight) and stand in front of the closed blind/window & bark his little floppy eared head off. What's a Mom to do?

The trucks are gone now and it's quiet around the house but after all the chaos this morning I cannot get this song out of my head!